The Heart by Anni Dahms

The red heart has become a symbol of emotion. Many scientists believe that our memory is stored not only in the brain, but also in our other organs. This assumption has especially been confirmed since the development of medicine has led to organ transplants. There are various documented instances where people who have received an organ transplant, e.g. a heart transplant – began to have thoughts, feelings, dreams, personality and even began to feel like eating the same food as the organ donor. 

In the description of our different chakras, it is the heart chakra which contains our compassion, tolerance and forgiveness, not only towards others but also towards ourselves. I believe that most of us have felt how much our heart is affected by thoughts and emotions. Many of us have felt a stab to the heart, if we have experienced something emotionally overwhelming. It can either be something excruciating or something positively wonderful. It is in the heart that our sense of unconditional love has it’s seat. The colour of the heart chakra is green. There are many different idioms related to the heart. My mother said on many occasions, “what the heart is full of, the mouth speaks” – in my case, it is through the computer that I allow the love of my profession translate. Other known terms include:
“The heart clenches together caused by anxiety, sadness, or other negative feelings”.
“The heart swells with joy or pride”.
“I have cold hands, but a warm heart etc.” 
There are several hypotheses conveying that events affecting the heart in a metaphysical sense, e.g. sad love stories can in different ways “cut” in the heart. Louise Hay also wrote in her book about the heart, that the heart stands for loves center; a good and strong affirmation of this is, “My heart beats in the rhythm of love”.

The hearts function

The heart is the most miraculous organ in our body, which reacts to life on account of all the other organs in our body. Life flows from there. It is your heart that keeps life flowing in all the systems in your body. It is an organ worthy of being well-looked after and thankful for, since it is working so faithfully for us.
Since as early as 1616, wrote Dr. Harvey about something completely new, bold and revolutionary; that the movement of the blood in the body is a constant circle, generated by the beating of the heart. Until that point it was believed that cardiovascular system was made up of two independent systems.
Today we know that the heart is a fantastic pump, consisting of a tiny 4-room apartment with 2 atria and 2 ventricles. The atria receive the blood, which pump thereafter into the ventricles. The doors consist of heart valves between the atria and ventricles. The other team of doors are where the blood leaves the ventricles and runs partially into the pulmonary circulation and into  the circulatory system. Along with the circulatory system, the heart works for the whole body throughout your entire life.
The circulatory system, has an extention of 120,000km. By means of the arteries which is part of the system, oxygens and nutrients are provided to all the bilions of cells in the body. Each time the heart beats, blood is sent out into the arteries, which gives us the blood pressure. This is called systolic blood pressure.
Another part of the circulatory system are called veins. They run opposite to the arteries, up to the heart with the now oxygen-depleted veneous blood. They transport carbon dioxide and waste products away, while the heart relaxes. This is called diastolic blood pressure. The systolic blood pressure is logically higher than the diastolic. Blood pressure fluctuates throughout the day depending on our activity and emotion.
Unfortunately we are too often sloppy with our lifestyle, and this can strain the heart, especially as we grow older and become “at risk” for all sorts of circulatory and heart problems, e.g. the risk of blood clots, high blood pressure and atherosclerosis. Today, we also see many young people with heart problems. The increase of blood clots in the heart, have been alarmingly rising in the last 40 years.
Something the heart has trouble coming to terms with is if you smoke, drink alcohol in excess, don’t exercise enough, are overweight, diabetic, lack of nutrients, poor root canal, inflammatory diseases, eat/drink poor quality food with a large quantity of sugar etc.

The diet

That, which you decide to eat, will have a large influence on your heart’s health.
First of all, drink plenty of water, and if possible drink fresh spring water containing no additives.
Use plenty of high quality olive oil. It is known to boost the good cholesterol and lower the bad, and also contains a lot of good antioxidants. Beware of too much saturated fat, e.g. from butter and meat.
If you have a sweet tooth, moderate and make sure that you get it from good quality, e.g. fruit, however watch out for the sweet fruits. An example of these are pineapple, figs, grapes etc. Instead try to use various kinds of berries. Mashed bananas and apples can be used as sweeteners in many dishes instead of using sugar. If you must use sugar, use good quality sugar, e.g. coconut sugar, indian cane sugar, unrefined sugar or use the healthier sweeteners such as stevia, sukrin and malitol.
Avoid bought cakes, desserts, sodapop, finished juices. Beware of the hidden sugar.
Eat a good amount of vegetables, preferably in the form of various cabbages. For example, my favorite cabbage at the moment is kale, which is delicious with e.g. a bit of orange, sunflower seeds, figs etc. This applies to all salads, you can make them more exciting by using seeds, e.g. pumpkin seeds, sesame, linseed and sunflower seeds. A lot of food can be invigorated with the healthier nuts, e.g. walnuts, hazelnuts etc. Remember to use many good roots too.
When salting your food, try to salt sparingly and use the good kind of salt e.g. herbal salt, pure sea salt, Himalayan salt etc.
Stay away from white bread, white pasta, white rice etc. Better to eat the fibrous whole grain foods, especially those with whole grain, e.g. quinoa, oats, rye etc.
Make sure to eat good proteins in the form of eggs, fatty fish, shellfish, poultry and legumes.
Avoid too much fried food. Instead, use the oven or cook your meat, fish and your vegetables.
Include fatty fish into your weekly food repertoire.

Supplements

As usual, make sure to have the basic vitamin/mineral supplements. If you are above 50-years-old, you should avoid products with iron, as iron has a tendency to accumulate in the body if it is not needed.
Take good B-vitamin supplements. It is important to keep the homocysteine levels in the blood at a low. A normal homocysteine helps to keep cholesterol harmless.
Q10 strengthens the heart and is good for all of us over the age of 40. In the Christmas issue of the journal Healthy Research, was a very detailed and interesting article on the importance of Q10 and what it does for the body. www.sundforskning.dk among other things, mentioned that Q10 and seleniumcan enjoy each other for optimal use. Also, there was a placebo study made with 420 heart failure patients where after 2 years, showed that those treated with Q10 had 43% fewer heart-related deaths than the control group.
Vitamin C is very important for the cardiovascular system. The daily dose is approximately 3 grams.
Lysine, an amino acid which is mostly commonly known for keeping cold sores at bay, along with vitamin C helps to prevent arteriosclerosis.
The amino acid Taurine, which is not so well known, is found in all of the body membranes and has also been known in some cases, to keep a cardiac arrhythmia in check.
Hawthorn strengthens the heart, is calming and may decrease high blood pressure.
Omega 3 fatty acids helps to stabilize the hearts rhythm, and helps to prevent blood clots and arteriosclerosis.

Tips

Are you a smoker, then stop smoking. Also, stop being a passive smoker. The chemicals in the cigarette smoke damage your arteries.
Beware of damaging chemicals such as mercury, cadmium (are in cigarettes and have a half-life og 30 years), lead etc.
Are you obese, then look to throw off the excess kilos. It can be a difficult task, but from experience I can say that it is worthwhile in terms of greater well-being and in all areas of life.
If your life is stressful, be aware of it and try to reduce the stress wherever possible.
Make sure to exercise. If you don’t pursue any kind of sports you can start with a 30 minute walk daily, increase it to 2 times daily and gradually increase the speed of the walk. Your daily goal should be 10,000 steps. It is possible to download healthapps on most smartphones, where you can keep track of your steps and mileage.
Watch out for your temper. It has been found that people, who are more angry more often suffer from heart problems. The energy follows your thoughts and therefore you must, for your own sake, curb your anger and instead fill your heart with love, which both joys and benefits you and your surroundings.